County Puts Sales Tax On Fall Ballot

TAVARES — Lake County voters will decide on Nov. 3 if they want to pay an extra penny of sales tax. County commissioners voted Tuesday to put the question on the general election ballot that day.

If voters approve the tax, the county will have a way to pay for its new jail and landfills, and the cities will have extra cash for projects such as road improvements. The money collected will be split between the county and the cities according to a state formula.

The new tax could mean an extra $6 million a year for Lake County for the next 15 years for capital improvements.

Commissioners said they also will try to educate the public to make sure voters understand exactly what impact the new tax will have.

According to the commissioners:

-- Planners' projections show county residents will only pay about half of the tax collected. The rest will come from out-of-county residents on shopping trips and from visitors.

-- Buyers of major items -- such as new cars or houses -- don't have to fret over how much the extra penny will cost them -- the state law authorizing the extra tax sets a $50 maximum.

Jeff Book, executive director of the Lake County League of Cities, told commissioners that virtually every city government in the county favors the sales tax.

The cities will be able to spend the funds on such things as capital improvements, road repairs and buying property.

He said the cities are willing to help sponsor town hall meetings to brief voters on the extra tax.

Book said after the meeting the League of Cities will recruit help from organizations such as the Lake County League of Women Voters to help with the town hall meetings. He said he did not know how soon the meetings will start. ''You've got to let them know what you want it for,'' Commissioner Lex Deems said after the meeting. ''If they think you just want some extra money, the voters aren't going to approve it.''

County commissioners are facing a $30 million jail project and millions of dollars for garbage disposal.

The extra penny tax would allow them to pledge the funds to pay off bond issues and would prevent an increase in property taxes, officials say.

''We've got to have the money,'' Commissioner Jim Carson said. ''We either have to get it this way or we have to get it from ad valorem taxes.''

The county and the commissioners have been sued twice by the state over jail conditions, once for fire safety violations and once for crowding. Both suits were dropped when the county began planning a new jail.

The county jail is not supposed to house more than 120 inmates, but it often holds more than 200. Many prisoners are released without bail because of crowding.